The Enemy of an Enemy

The lowest level on the Nevermore was mostlyunused at this time. It was the area designated for teaching andtraining new wizards. Jerran was often down there practicing hisspells. He had a real affinity for explosive and fire magic so heneeded a safe place to work where he would not be in danger ofdestroying anything. In fact, it was during one of his practicesessions we learned just how much Kellyn’s healing power wasgrowing.

Luke, who also had an affinity for elementalmagic, often came down here to practice his art too, though his wasmore centered on electricity than fire.

Andreya had it much easier, as she couldpractice her powers anywhere. Andreya was undoubtedly the master ofillusions, such that even the master wizards of Mantis’s realm wereimpressed by her skill. According to Mantis there were very few whocould match her, and he knew only of one to exceed her, and thatwizard was a member of their council!

Kellyn had a lot of opportunity to practiceher healing arts during the refitting of the ship, as many workersthroughout the station learned to come to her first for treatmentof any serious injury. Her skill grew at a phenomenal rate. At onepoint I personally witnessed her cause a man to grow a new arm thathe had lost in a blaster misfire many years before. After a while,we had to set specific hours during which people could come to herfor treatment, just to prevent her from getting overworked. Thestation workers might have feared us, but they were sure to missher.

Darnath also would come down here to practicehis art. We were a little surprised that Darnath turned out to bethe one to have an affinity for summoning magic. He could callforth all kinds of creatures to help us in our tasks.

The shuttle bays were on this level, and soonthe Dark Talon would be parked in one of them. The Nevermore wastoo massive to be practical for use in reaching the surface of aplanet, so I requested several small ships similar to the DarkTalon to be used for that purpose and for other times when weneeded small vessels. The Emperor gave us three such craft, whichwas less than I wanted, but more than I expected so I guess itworked out for the best.

That completed my tour of the ship so Iheaded for the mess hall to meet Kellyn. She naturally knew when Iwas coming, so the fact that I was thirty minutes late was not anissue. As I arrived she was just finishing laying out a nice steakdinner. I smiled as I saw her; she was stunning with her long, darkhair and slender build.

Somewhere along the line we gave up any hopeof hiding our growing relationship. At first we both tried to denyit, even to each other, but none of the others believed us. Whyshould they have? After all, we all had basic telepathicpowers.

Because of the pace of life — her clinic, thework necessary to get this ship ready, and the intense study — wehad not had a lot of time to spend together over the last year, butwe made it a point to meet for dinner like this as often aspossible. The others always seemed to find something else to dowhen we met up, for which we were grateful. Of course, the onlytime we were truly alone was when we visited each other’s quarters.This was a special dinner, though, and I did everything I could tomake sure she did not guess it. That was not easy considering howdeeply she knew me, but I believed I had been successful.

Our conversation at first was very casual andwandered around from topic to topic. Then she mentioned how nice itwould be for me to see my old shipmates on the Dragon Claw again.That was the opening I was looking for. “That will be nice,especially to see the captain again,” I said.

I paused and reached into my pocket andpulled out a small box. She gasped when she saw it. Before shecould say anything, I opened it and showed her a diamond ring.“Kellyn, would you accept me as your husband?”

She broke down in tears; I was not expectingthat reaction. Unsure what to do next, I just sat there. Then,speechless, she held out her hand and nodded. I placed the ring onher finger and said, “I would like the captain to marry us whenwe meet up with the fleet.”

She could not get any words out but theemotions overwhelming our connection were clear, a mixture ofshock, joy and love. When she could finally talk she said, “Andall this time I thought I could predict your every move!”

After we had talked for some time, Andreyafinally lost her patience and barged into the room to congratulateus. Kellyn asked her to be her maid of honor, and Andreya let herknow that there was no way she would let Kellyn even think ofgiving that position to anyone else. From then on all the excitedtalk was about where and how to have the wedding. Andreya suggestedthat she should do all the decorations, and Kellyn said she wantedto hold it down in the gardens. After a while I left them to workout the plans. I knew that a man’s place in such affairs was justto smile and nod, so I left to get out of the way.

I headed to the library to read, and was metby Darnath, Gafar and Luke in the lift. After their playful kiddingaround Gafar spoke up and said, “Okay, Vydor, how did you keep thathidden?” Gafar, being a master telepath was a bit put out by thefact even he had not known.

“Easy, I am the grandmaster wizard,remember?” I said.

“No, seriously. I never even saw you buy thering. You must let me in on your secret.”

I smiled an evil smile and tried to come upwith my best Mantis impression, “That’s simple, because you did notknow to look.”

“I guess a bachelor party is out of thequestion,” commented Luke.

“Yes, I think that would be a horrible idea,”I said as quickly as I could, which brought on more kidding fromthem about me being henpecked already, until we all heard Kellynremark how terrible it would be if she just let us suffer the nexttime we got sick.

Once I finally got away from the jokers, Iwas able to get to the library to study. The first thing I wantedto do was resync the ship’s database with the station’s database sothat we would have the most accurate information possible before weleft the next day. That would take several hours, and probablygenerate a few complaints from the station administrators, butsince I would be gone tomorrow I was not too worried about theirwrath.

While that worked I started digging throughwhat we already had. I wanted to see if there were any legends ormyths that could explain the dark specter. Tomorrow would be thefirst time we reentered jump space in over a year, and I was notlooking forward to another contest with him. In fact, I was worriedabout it. Sooner or later I knew he would win, the question waswhen. He seemed so much closer and more powerful the last time Isaw him than ever before.

While I searched I felt Kellyn’s familiartouch as she ran her fingers through my hair. She wanted me to growit out now that we were free from the Imperial requirement of shorthair, and I was glad to oblige. “Vydor, you are scared. I cantell.”

“Yes, I cannot hide that from you. Tomorrowwe will face him again.”

“I will be with you, and we are much greaterthan the last time we fought him. We have both grown considerablyin power; he does not stand a chance. With your awesome might andmy healing, how could he win? You are no longer a helpless mortal;you are the grandmaster of wizards!”

“You are right, of course, thank you. Butthere is something else I need to tell you, something you shouldknow before we get married.” As I said that I pictured myfather on his deathbed, and his father before him, and so on.

To my surprise she just smiled and said,“Oh, Vydor, I know about all that. The reason medical sciencecannot cure it is because it is not a physical illness.”

“What do you mean?”

“The dark specter that chases you is thecause of it. It is a dark curse on your family line going back moregenerations than I can imagine. When we beat the dark specter, thatwill be the end of the disease too, and until then I can keep youhealthy. Now, I am off to bed. I hope to get an early start andmake one last pass through the hospital before we leave,” shesaid, then gave me a kiss and left.

If I was the grandmaster wizard, why did Ifeel like a child playing at being god? I shut off the terminal andheaded for bed. I would need my energy for the next day, that wascertain.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

My alarm told me that it was time to get up,but I had not had much sleep. I spent the night fighting